Has the Artist Formerly Known as Asian Punk Boy Lost His Edge?

Vito Schnabel and Terence Koh at the former Richard Avedon Studio in New York City on November 12, 2008. From PatrickMcMullan.com.It takes a lot to impress New Yorkers, especially the art crowd. Terence Koh, the artist formerly known as Asian Punk Boy, and Vito Schnabel, son of world-famous art fixture Julian Schnabel, know this well. So it should be no surprise that the duo is behind “Children of the Corn,” an exhibition featuring a half-dozen towering white totem poles (and one seesaw) dropped in the middle of a corn maze in Bridgehampton, New York. The innovative show opened last weekend to much fanfare—after all, Manhattanites and Hamptonites had been gossiping about the display for weeks after spotting curator Vito scouting the cornfield atop his Porsche. It is sure to be one of the summer’s most talked-about art happenings—at least with the in crowd.

VF Daily was hoping to moderate a Schnabel-Koh interview, but it wasn’t until Koh’s arrival at the Julian-designed Palazzo Chupi, in Manhattan, where Vito keeps an apartment, that this reporter’s hopes for a great scoop in the form of a three-way discussion were dashed: the always unpredictable Koh, a Lady Gaga confidante and general enfant terrible of the New York art scene, had taken a vow of silence that started with a ceremonious toss of his BlackBerry into the Hudson several weeks earlier. (Of course Koh broke his vow of silence a couple of days after we sat down with him.)Luckily Koh was both physically expressive and well equipped for our interview, arriving with a gesso-covered notebook and a stuffed bunny. Schnabel, who previously collaborated with the artist on a salon-style show in Richard Avedon’s old studio, told us that Koh had taken the vow shortly after his exploits with Gaga as a reaction to being bombarded by “so many e-mails—so many different people asking him questions.”

What had Koh been doing instead of speaking? Building 25-foot-tall totem poles topped by screaming bunnies with holes in their heads, that’s what. The six totems were crafted in a foundry in Trenton, New Jersey, then brought by a crane to the cornfield, where the farmer was, according to Vito, “down with it.” The totems are covered in harvest emblems, including cornhusks and kernels, and painted in Koh’s customary white. Each is topped with a screaming bunny, a common symbol in the artist’s work, and sure to be interpreted as somehow related to his silence.

Cynics and those familiar with Koh’s shock tactics may see a phallic theme in the totems, but both Koh and Schnabel swear the artist has “settled down” over the past year. “More and more,” Vito told me, “his work is becoming for the kids.” The naughty child in Koh couldn’t help but chime in at this point, telling us in the form of scribbles that there would be a “PG-rated kissing booth” at the opening. Then he crossed out the “P” and wrote, “Keeping it G friendly.”

People are encouraged to wander the maze with children and bring dogs. What about the choice of title then? Turns out both Koh and Schnabel are terrified of horror films. The sculptures “are the nice children of the corn,” Vito explains. “These are Terence’s children.”

Koh seemed on the verge of tears while listening to Schnabel describe the trust that exists between the two. But then he wrote, “I torture myself for V[ito],” after sketching one of his screaming bunnies and using the pencil to punch a hole through the mouth. It seems that even when silent, Terence Koh still has plenty to say.